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Make a Dungeon Diorama Book

This is a project you can easily make. It is a horizontal layout dungeon that you can use for table-top gaming. And it folds up like a book which makes it convenient to carry and store miniatures in.

This is an interesting little project inspired by a diorama I spotted in a museum. The museum was dedicated to coal mining! Yup, and it is practically the perfect real life version of delving through a dungeon!

The thing that really struck me about this diorama is how it is laid out horizontally just like a dungeon adventure would be. It is a miniature scene of something called Pitch Mining. Interested in learning more about this museum? It is the Anthracite Museum in Pennsylvania.

This is the dungeon that I make in this tutorial But I show you unlimited options to make yours any way you like. I kept it a simple dungeon but you can make yours very y intricate and complex.

And it folds up like a book. Making it easier to carry or store. And you can keep miniatures and various other things inside it.

You just need a few basic supplies:You just need a few basic supplies:

1 sheet of foamboard. You can buy foamboard at Walmart, Arts & Crafts store, hobby stores and many drug stores. They also have it on amazon right here: Elmer's Acid-Free Foam Boards, (Elmer's is the best)

Let's Get Started

One thing to carefully consider when building your dungeon book is the size of the miniatures you are going to use. See how my miniatures are taller than one inch? They are taller than one layer of foam. Which is quite ok. I will make some of my dungeon book with one layer of foam and some of it will be made with two layers of foam.

Start by drawing out the size of your book. Do this. On the left is the 12x12 top, on the right is the 12x12 bottom of the book. And in the middle is a 4 inch wide binding. This binding size is important. It dictates the depth of the dungeon. With a four inch wide binding you can have two inch deep corridors on both sides. Consider this.

If you want a shallower dungeon with just one layer of foam then you can make this binding two inches wide. Go ahead and cut all the way around this. But don't yet touch those two internal lines that make up the binding.

Now with a sharp knife cut on those lines. But just cut through the top layer of paper. Do not cut all the way through.